Network-based services exist that allow customers to purchase and utilize instances of computing resources, such as virtual machine instances, on a permanent or as-needed basis. In addition to virtual machine instances, these services typically allow customers to purchase and utilize instances of other types of computing resources for use with the virtual machine instances. For example, customers might be permitted to purchase and utilize instances of data storage resources, instances of networking resources, and instances of other types of resources.
Managing network-based services, such as those described above, can be extremely complex. At least some of this complexity is attributable to the large number of instances of computing resources and other types of resources that typically exist in such a service at any given time. For example, some network-based services might utilize dozens of data centers around the world, hundreds of thousands or even millions of server computers, along with large numbers of networking components, software programs, and other types of resources.
In some instances, a thermal event can occur in a data center. The thermal event generally means that a temperature in a data center is excessive or can become excessive for running of server computers and other electronic components. One simple example that can cause a thermal event is when one or more air conditioning units fail. In the case of a thermal event, electronic devices can start to overheat and randomly shut down. Once the thermal event is over, the devices can randomly start back up, which can quickly increase temperature causing another thermal event.